Zootopia: Press Conference
by DamianKastle
Summary: AU During the press conference, following the recovery of all fourteen missing mammals Judy stops herself from saying that the cause of the problem that was causing predators to go savage was related to their 'biology' and instead figures out what the real cause could be, causing the mastermind, plus some old foes of Nick, to reveal themselves and set their plan into motion.
1. Chapter 1

**Zootopia: The Press Conference**

 **Chapter 1**

Judy could hardly believe it. She did it. She solved the Missing Mammals case. Well, technically she and Nick Wilde, the crafty fox con artist that she dragged into helping her, solved it and they did it _together_.

They went through a lot together as they tried to figure out the whereabouts of Emmitt Otterton, they met several interesting characters like Yax, Flash and even the main crime boss of Tundra Town; Mr. Big who also nearly killed them along with a jaguar named Manchas, who for some reason went savage on them and they had yet to figure out why.

With Assistant Mayor Bellwether's help they discovered that wolves had taken Manchas and probably Mr. Otterton, due to the fact that he apparently went savage as well, and discovered that had been taken to an old building called Cliffside Asylum. And it wasn't just Manchas and Emmitt that they found but all the other missing mammals as well.

They also learned that Mayor Lionheart was the one responsible for taking them away and hiding them without telling Chief Bogo and managed to record evidence of what he was doing. They showed it to Bogo and the ZPD quickly arrested him for withholding evidence and the kidnapping of the missing mammals, despite his protests that he was trying to protect the city and figure out why they were going savage.

The following day, the ZPD held a press conference to announce that all fourteen mammals had been found and Judy was asked to give a speech to the press who were already beginning to gather inside the building and flash pictures while Chief Bogo himself addressed them.

"Ladies and gentle-mammals, fourteen mammals went missing, and all fourteen have been found by our newest recruit, who will speak to you in a moment." Chief Bogo told them.

Meanwhile, Judy was standing nearby and was already on pins and needles as she gazed at the large crowd that was gathering, she wondered what she was going to say to them and what kind of questions they were going to ask and it almost made her stomach hurt. Behind her, Nick was leaning back and gazing at her with a relaxed smile.

"Ohh, I'm so nervous." Judy admitted, biting her claws.

Seeing that she needed some help Nick stood straight up and got her attention. "Okay. Press conference 101. You wanna look smart, answer their question with your own question and then answer that question. Like this: 'Excuse me, Officer Hopps, uh, what can you tell us about the case?' 'Well, was this a tough case? Yes, yes it was.' You see?"

Judy smiled, this seemed to cheer up but part of her still felt like she needed some support. "You should be up there with me. We did this together," she pointed out.

"Well, am I a cop? No. No, I am not." Nick reasoned with a shrug, he seemed perfectly content with letting Judy take all the credit, though Judy still felt like she owed him a lot and wanted him with her from then on.

"Hm. Funny you should say that." Judy admitted as she took something out from behind her back. "Because, well, I've been thinking… it would be nice to have a _partner_.

Judy held out a ZPD application with a smile towards the stunned looking Nick, who slowly took it, without a single word coming out of his mouth. When he was a kid, all he wanted was to prove to everyone that he was more then a shifty fox and now, in his paws, was his next chance to do so.

"Here, in case you need something to write with." The little bunny added as she handed him her carrot pen, with his confession of never paying his taxes on it, as promised. Only now it didn't matter much to Nick anymore, because he knew, deep in his heart, that she'd never use it against him because she _believed_ in him. For once someone believed in him, and it made him smile at her, touched. She shared his smile and both felt a need to say something until…

"Officer Hopps!" Assistant Mayor Bellwether, or rather Mayor Bellwether whispered to Judy. "It's time."

Judy looked at Nick, crossing her fingers with a slightly anxious smile and walked up to the podium while Nick was left to fill in his application.

As she went over, Chief Bogo began to finish up his speech to the press. "They appear to be in good health, physically, if not emotionally. So now, I'll turn things over to the officer who cracked the case, Officer Judy Hopps," he declared as he stepped back and let Judy walk up to the podium.

In a flash the reports began to barrage her with questions and snap pictures, filling Judy with more unease then ever. She didn't know who to answer first so she simply picked at random.

"Uh, yes?" she asked a beaver reporter.

"What can you tell us about the animals going savage?" he asked, holding his microphone up to her.

"Well, the… the animals in question…" Judy began before she began to trail off, due to her nervousness. She looked at Nick, who began to make gestures that encouraged her to say something as well as subtly remind her of what they discussed. "Are they all different species? Yes, yes they are."

The reporters quickly wrote down what she said in their notebooks while Nick nodded in approval, the student had become the teacher, leaving him to start filling in his application.

"Okay, so what is the connection?" A female reporter questioned next.

"Oh, all we know is that they are all members of the predator family." Judy answered, that fact was obvious and easy for her.

"So, predators are the only ones going savage?" A giraffe reporter inquired.

"That is accu... Yes, that is accurate, yes." Judy confirmed quickly, her nervousness beginning to return with a vengeance

"Why? Why is this happening?" A pig reporter demanded.

Judy began to feel pressure, her legs shook as she tried to think of an answer. "We still don't know. But it may have something to do with…" she started to say. She was going to say that it could have something to do with their biology like the Honey Badger that was with Lionheart said, but something stopped her, something that really made her start to think.

As she began to slip deep into thought, her mind seemed to block out all sounds around her except her own thoughts and time seemed to be slowing down drastically. Course Judy wasn't aware of this and continued to think.

" _Wait… what if… what if I'm wrong? What if it isn't their biology? For some reason predators are the one's going savage but… I don't think Mr. Otterton was and Manchas said something about Otterton learning something right before he attacked him and Manchas turned right when he started telling us about the Night Howlers… something's not right,"_ she thought.

"Officer Hopps? Officer Hopps!"

Judy snapped out of her trance and found herself back at the precinct with dozens and dozens of reports snapping pics of her and expecting her answer.

"We asked you why this happening, do you know?"

"Like I said; we don't know but we _will_ find out. _Something_ or some _one_ is targeting predators on purpose and making them go savage." Judy told them. "Now, this is just a theory but we cannot just pin the blame on predators because they used to be savage during the stone age. That time is over, this the now. We've _all_ evolved and we have to forgive the mistakes of the past and move to the future if we are going to stop this."

The bunny officer looked directly towards the camera as she said her next set of words.

"And whoever is causing predators to go savage, I _promise_ that I will find you and bring you to justice for your crimes," she stated firmly before glancing at Nick fondly. "I won't be alone. I'll bringing a few of my friends. As for the rest of you, you must be vigilant and do not fear, because we at the ZPD are prepared to serve and protect you. Predators and prey alike. Thank you."

And right away, the reporters began asking a bunch more questions which Judy began to feel overwhelmed by again before Bellwether came up to her.

"Okay, thank you Officer Hopps," she told her, gratefully before turning to the reporters. "Uh, that's all the time we have. No more questions.

Bellwether then helped Judy walk away from the reporters while Bogo attempted to escort them out all out, though it was not at easy.

"Was I okay?" Judy asked Dawn, nervously.

"Oh, you did fine!" The sheep assured her. Judy seemed pleased and quickly went over to Nick, who was smiling at her proudly, much to her pleasure.

"Oh, that went so fast…" she said, relieved. "I didn't get a chance to mention you, or say anything about how we…"

"Relax! You did _great_! A little bit jittery, but great." Nick commended.

"Thanks." Judy nodded, thankfully.

"So you think someone else is causing this? That there's a reason why it's only predators?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I mean… look at Mr. Otterton and Manchas, both of them knew something about it but before they could tell anyone…" Judy began.

"They went nuts…" Nick realized.

"Someone else must be pulling the strings, maybe they were even watching us during the whole thing…" Judy said, as the realization sunk in.

"That's… creepy." Nick admitted.

"Yeah, it is, and I have no idea who it could be or _why_ …" Judy sighed, looking stumped.

"Well, good thing you won't be doing it alone." Nick smiled as he held out his filled in application that made Judy gasp with surprise and happiness.

"Really?" she asked, slowly and smiling.

"Yep. You got yourself a partner, rabbit." Nick smirked before Judy glomped him with a hug that caught him by surprise but he slowly accepted it and held the back of her head and her back as he returned it.

"Aw! How _sweet_ …" They heard someone comment.

They both turned around in surprise, along with all the reports, Bogo and Bellwether as well and standing in front of the enterance to the precinct were four intimidating looking prey mammals comprised of a zebra, a hippo, a woodchuck and a wildebeest. Nick's eyes widened, he knew these mammals and they brought a lot of bad memories with them.

"I _hate_ sweet." The woodchuck finished, scowling.

Bogo stepped forward a bit. "Alright, who are you all? Identify yourselves!"

Nick stepped forward as well. "Chuckie? Is that you?" he asked, surprised.

The woodchuck known as Chuckie turned to him. "Oh! Nick! I didn't see you there, long time no see, huh fox?"

Judy turned to Nick, who was scowling at the four mammals. "You know this guy?" she asked.

"Oh boy, does he know us." The zebra smirked. "Hey Nick, still trying to get mammals to trust you without a _muzzle_?"

Judy gasped softly when it hit her. "Does this mean… are _they_ …" she started to say.

"Yep." Nick nodded. "They're the scout's that muzzled me when I was just a kid…"

"Heard you're a pretty slick con-artist these days Nicky, guess your as untrustworthy as we thought you were, _fox_." The woodchuck sneered which Nick returned before Judy stepped forward.

"Hey! You're _wrong_ about him!" she defended.

"Is that right?" The Wildebeest remarked.

"Yeah, that's right. He's more then a fox, he's my _friend_." Judy stated, firmly stunning Nick. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, the boss wanted to meet the one who threatened him and his operation personally." The hippo replied.

"Boss?" Judy echoed.

"Yeah, he doesn't take kindly to threats and figured he'd save you the trouble of figuring out whose causing all this by just showing up himself." The woodchuck revealed.

Nick's eyes widened. "So that means… _you guys_ have been the one's making the other predators go nuts?"

"In part… yes." The zebra confirmed causing the reporters to all gasp in shock.

"Officers! Arrest them!" Bogo ordered. Judy started to approach them along with her fellow officers before a voice suddenly stopped them before any of them could get very far.

"Not so fast,"

They looked and saw someone else stepping through the doors of the precinct. The four former scouts stepped to the side and made room for the latest intruder; a big, burly sheep covered in beige wool and wearing a yellow jumpsuit which matched his creepy looking yellow eyes.

"Not until I've said _my_ piece first," he said.

"And who are _you_?" The buffalo asked.

"Name's Doug, I'm the guy who's gonna wipe all predators from the face of the Earth," The sheep replied, coldly.

"So your…" Judy began.

"The guy who just threatened. You wanted me, here I am, rabbit. Hope your happy." Doug said, scowling.

" _You're_ the one who's been causing predators to go savage?" Judy demanded.

"Bingo. Now I'm not gonna tell you _how_ but I will say that predators like your fox friend over there deserve what's coming to them!" Doug stated. "They hunted us in the early days and some still push us around today! Well now I say it's time for the _hunters_ to become _the hunted_."

Judy narrowed her eyes. "I can't let you do that."

"Come on bunny, aren't you tired of being mistreated and picked on by predators? I heard about your little incident with a certain fox from your home town you know." Doug revealed, surprising Judy and Nick as well. "What makes you think _this fox_ isn't as dangerous as _that one_? Besides, prey out number predators, take _them_ out and we can have a true, peaceful city full of prey and free of predators. All you gotta do… is join us."

The bunny cop's knuckles cracked as she listened to him talk. "I'd rather eat _dirt_ ," she spat.

"Then you've chosen the wrong side bunny, too bad." Doug shrugged. "But since we can't let you get in our way again… grab her."

The wildebeest took out a grappling gun and it out towards Judy. Before she could react, and even before Nick could do anything about it the metal claws of the grappling clamped around her small bunny before the gun quickly pulled them back, along with her, much to everyone's shock and horror, especially Nick, Bogo and Bellwether..

"Carrots!" Nick exclaimed, alarmed.

"Hopps!" Bogo added.

Once the metal claws were fully retracted, two of Doug's minion's grabbed Judy and held her arms and legs tightly so that she couldn't escape.

Shaking off the intense shock he was feeling and filling it up with righteous fury, Nick promptly began to sprint towards the group of predator hating hoodlums in an effort to save Judy and stop them. He didn't care about his own safety at the time, all he cared about was helping her.

"Fox! Wait!" Bogo called out, but Nick wasn't listening and continued to sprint towards the villains, who were preparing to leave.

"Hey! Get back here!" he yelled out, full of anger and wanting to pummel his old tormentors more then he ever did before.

"You'll get what's coming to ya, Nicky." The woodchuck promised.

"But until then…" Doug began before he held out a hand grenade shaped object colored blue. "I'd stay back… unless you want this whole precinct going nuts."

Nick quickly stopped where he was while everyone gasped in horror while some of the other others appeared and moved in to protect them, along with Bogo.

"Everyone! Stay back!" he told them.

Nick growled, angered by his predicament. He greatly wanted to keep running and go after Judy before his old bullies took her away but he knew he couldn't risk getting himself and everyone else infected as well, as Judy would have killed him if he did. He was completely and utterly stuck and he hated the sheep in front of him for doing so.

Doug then smirked. "Psyche," he said before he drew the grenade back and whacked Nick across the jaw with it, making him spin before he fell down flat on his face.

Bellwether gasped. "Oh dear!"

Doug chuckled, evilly. "Be seeing ya'll," he said before he turned and left, leaving Nick unconscious on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The fox groaned as he slowly to regain consciousness. His eyes slowly opened and his blurred vision eventually cleared to show Chief Bogo and Clawhauser standing over him, the cheetah looked worried while the buffalo looked quite stern, as usual.

"So, you've finally woken up." Bogo observed.

"O. M. Goodness! Are you ok?" Clawhauser asked, concerned.

Nick sat up and groaned as he rubbed his head. "Oh… I got the headache but I don't recall the party… what…" he began to say before he started to look around and see where he was. It seemed to be a hospital room and he was dressed in a hospital gown, making him shiver a bit after realizing he was undressed but he quickly shook it off. "What happened? Where am I?"

"Zootopia General." Bogo answered.

"You got a really bad bump to the head." Clawhauser added. "But your ok now, don't worry."

"Well, I'd worry less if you could tell me what happened…" Nick stated before it hit him. He looked around, alarmed and worried. "Hey… hey where is she? Where's Carrots? I-I mean… Officer Hopps?"

Hearing him ask this made Bogo and Clawhauser exchange sad glances while they tried to figure out the best way to tell him.

"Guys? What's going on?" The fox asked, desperately.

Bogo sighed deeply. "They took her…"

"What!? Who?" Nick questioned in shock.

"Wait… you don't remember?" Clawhauser inquired, surprised. "It was that sheep Doug and…"

"Stop! It's starting to come back to me…" Nick revealed. "Those wildebeests… from when I was a kid…"

The pawsicle hustler sighed deeply as he put a hand on his head and lowered it. Clawhauser looked at him sympathetically and even Bogo looked like he felt bad for him.

"It's my fault… I should have protected her… why could I save her!?" The fox asked, angry with himself as he pounded the bed.

"Easy Fox, there was nothing you could have done." Bogo told him, as he put a hoof on his shoulder

Nick's eyes remained narrow while he swats away Bogo's hoof. "I don't believe that. Not at all."

"Then you're a fool." Chief Bogo stated, bluntly.

"What was that!?" Nick questioned, angered.

"Uh, ok guys… calm down…" Clawhauser urged them, getting more and more nervous by the scene.

"I'd watch your tone fox." Bogo warned him.

"Yeah? Well I would have _done something_ back there if I were you!" Nick shot back.

"Excuse me?" Bogo asked, angered.

"You heard me! Maybe Officer Hopps would still be here if I didn't have to go after those guys alone!" Nick snapped.

"We couldn't risk the public's safety!" The chief shouted.

"Guys…" Clawhauser tried to say but he was drowned out.

"Oh, but you could risk _Judy's_ safety? Huh? And not for the first time either!" Nick pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Clawhauser asked.

"Stay out of this." Bogo told him.

"No. He needs to hear this. He let a little bunny go searching for a missing otter with no backup, no resources and only _forty-eight hours_." Nick stated. "And when she was in danger and told you about Manchas going nuts, you didn't believe her!"

"I know. I was there." Bogo nodded.

"And now that you've _seen_ the savage animals, I'll bet your feeling pretty darn stupid, aren't ya?" Nick inquired, raising a brow.

"Don't you call me stupid, fox." Bogo warned him as he leaned close, snorting with anger.

"Why shouldn't I? _You're_ the one who was setting her up to fail, you didn't believe in her _at all_ until she found all the missing mammals." Nick stated. "I thought superior officers were supposed to _support_ their new recruits, believe in them, not make them wanna go quit!"

"You don't know anything, fox!" Bogo yelled.

"I know enough!" Nick snapped.

"I'll have you know, that Lionheart dumped me with her without my consent in the matter." The Chief told him.

"Oh, boo-hoo, poor you." Nick said, sarcastically. "And yet, she turned out to be your best officer, even though _you_ didn't believe in her… just like I didn't…"

"You did, huh?" Bogo remarked, folding his arms. "Then you must understand how I felt at the time."

"Hey, I didn't hate her like _you did_ , I just considered her annoying and dumb… until she outsmarted me that is…" Nick admitted.

"I didn't hate her either." Chief Bogo denied.

"Yeah? Could have fooled _me_ , or _anybody_ for that matter." Nick pointed out.

"It's just his way, see…" Clawhauser spoke up.

"Clawhauser, butt out." Bogo grunted.

"Yes sir…" The cheetah said as he backed up.

"Anyways, you're just taking your anger out on me because _you_ failed to protect her." Bogo told Nick. "And it's not just Officer Hopps we have to worry about, those maniacs are planning to do something to whole city and unless they are stopped…"

"Yeah, I know, prey and predator relations go back hundreds of years." Nick cut in. "And you're gonna need all the help you can get."

"Meaning _what_?" Bogo asked, raising a brow.

"Meaning if you guys are going after Judy, then I'm coming with you!" Nick stated, firmly.

"Sorry fox, no civilians allowed, beside you're still injured from your previous encounter with these criminals." Bogo pointed out.

"He's got a point…" Clawhauser admitted.

Nick pushed back the covers and got out of the bed. "I can handle it. I'm fine," he said as he started to storm out before Bogo stopped him.

"You'll die," he told him before the fox shrugged him off.

"So what? Judy's life is what matters right now, not mine." Nick stated, firmly as he continued to keep walking.

"Why do you care, fox? I mean, what do you owe her?" The chief questioned, causing the con artist to spin around toward him, angry.

"I owe her _everything_ you big bag of hot air!" Nick snapped, surprising the buffalo and the cheetah as well.

There was a long period of silence between the three before Bogo finally decided to break it.

"What do you mean… 'you owe her everything', fox?" he asked.

"Look, don't act like you know, you don't. She _does_ however. She saw something in me… she saw that I was more then just a shifty fox that everyone thought I was, including myself. She believed in me so much that she even gave me an offer to be her partner and by golly I took it in a heartbeat! I even filled out the application and everything!" Nick revealed. Then it hit him. He began to look around. "Speaking of which, where is that thing?"

"Oh! Here it is!" Clawhauser said as he quickly took out the folded up application.

"Whew! That's a relief…" Nick said, pleased before regaining his focus. "Anyways I…"

" _You_ want to be a cop?" The chief asked, surprised.

"Yeah! Surprised me too!" Nick admitted. "And I never would have considered it if it weren't for her… and after I save her I _will_ become a cop! Just you wait! And I mean hey, if a _bunny_ could, so can a fox, right?"

"Wilde…" Bogo began to say.

"No, no, don't speak, I know what you're gonna say." Nick cut in. "You're gonna say I'm too untrustworthy, undisciplined, shifty, annoying and incapable of following orders and while I'll agree to most of those points, I _do_ however disagree with the untrustworthy part!"

"Wilde I…" The chief tried to say, but Nick wouldn't seem to let him.

"And I _know_ I'm still hurt, but not _that_ badly! I can still walk and know where I'm going!" Nick told him while he moved forward before slamming into a wall, unintentionally. Clawhauser winced at this while Nick rubbed his face. "Uh… for the most part."

"Wilde!" Bogo shouted. "Would you _please_ let me finish my sentence.

"Fine! Whatever." Nick sighed.

"What I'm _trying_ to say is that I will allow you to help us in arresting these criminals." Bogo revealed.

Nick did a double take. "I'm sorry, _what_?" he asked.

"I said you can help. _Don't_ make me repeat it or change my mind." Chief Bogo warned him.

"Uh… noted, but… why the change of heart?" Nick asked. "Frankly, I'm surprised you even _have one_."

"Ooh, that's kinda harsh…" Clawhauser commented.

"Don't care. In any case, I can see now that you really mean to save Hopps." Chief Bogo stated.

" _Finally_." Nick said, practically exasperated.

"In any case, what do you know about those five criminals that took Hopps?" Bogo questioned.

"Well, I don't know the sheep very well, just saw him once, but I know the other four all to well…" Nick said, tensely.

"Oh?" The chief asked.

"Yeah, met 'em when I was a kid…buncha lowlifes really." Nick grumbled as he clenched his paw tightly as he thought about what they did to him and the look on his mother's face when she heard that he didn't get into the scouts. He felt terrible for wasting his mother's money and vowed never to let anyone get to him or make his Mom suffer the way she did again. "I… really don't really like to talk about it."

"Fine. Don't really care anyway." Bogo shrugged.

"What _do_ you care about anyway?" Nick questioned, raising a brow.

"At the moment; solving this case and saving Hopps." Bogo stated.

"And Gazelle!" Clawhauser piped up.

"Clawhauser!" The buffalo snapped at the cheetah.

" _Really_?" Nick remarked, surprised.

Benjamin covered his mouth, realizing what he just did. "Oh… sorry sir."

"Do you _want me_ to move you down to records?" Bogo asked Clawhauser, scowling.

"Uh, no sir! Sorry sir… again!" The cheetah apologized, nervously.

"Well, if we actually want to _solve_ this case, we have to figure out where they took Officer Hopps." Nick pointed out.

"Right. Any ideas? These are old acquaintances of yours after all." Bogo asked.

"Nah, I haven't really kept tabs on them since I was nine, I pretty much avoided them like the plague since then." Nick admitted.

"So what your saying is that we have no leads and no idea what they might be up to. Is that right?" The chief asked, bluntly.

Nick paused. "Yep. That pretty much sums it up," he shrugged.

"Great…" Bogo said, flatly.

"There's gotta be _something_ we can do!" Clawhauser said, deeply hoping that there still was.

"I'm not sure that there is." Bogo stated. "Unless of course they just happen to show their faces right here and now."

Nick looked to the TV and suddenly got an idea. "Hey, Chief, pass me the remote," he told him before the buffalo handed the remote over to him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Wanna see what's on the news." The fox stated as he turned the TV on and just like that, an image of the four former junior scouts along with Doug the sheep appeared on the TV screen.

"Chief! It's them!" Clawhauser exclaimed.

"Doug." Bogo scowled.

"And the scouts." Nick added, eyes narrowed.

"Attention, citizens of Zootopia we have a little announcement to make, from the group that's _really_ going to be running the city; us prey animals." The woodchuck stated before moving the camera to Doug.

"You predators have infested out city long enough, it's time for the prey to take full control of this city once and for all!" Doug exclaimed. "And if anyone's thinking about trying to stop us, I'd advise against it because…"

The sheep then reached to the side and pulled none other then Judy, now gagged and tied up, to face the camera, she let out several muffled screams.

"I got this city's brand spanking new hero with me, hate to have anything to happen to her if you know what I mean…" he continued, seriously.

"Officer Hopps!" Clawhauser and Bogo gasped, shocked.

"Carrots!" Nick exclaimed, horrified.

"Now we know _one_ mammal is gonna try and stop us in order to save her, so we're willing to hand her over in exchange for this mammal's surrender." The sheep declared. The woodchuck then took the camera.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are Nicky." The woodchuck taunted before gesturing to Judy. "Or this bunny _boils_."

And with that, the screen blanked out and became full of static.


End file.
